Verdict: Aurangzeb begins poorly but picks up in the second half. Arjun Kapoor is commendable and decent supporting performances by Rishi Kapoor, Prithviraj and Jackie Shroff make the film a one time watch.

Verdict: Aurangzeb begins poorly but picks up in the second half. Arjun Kapoor is commendable and decent supporting performances by Rishi Kapoor, Prithviraj and Jackie Shroff make the film a one time watch. less

Aurangzeb starts off badly and then builds up to a point where you are blown away, but only in parts. The premise itself is preposterous. Do...
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Aurangzeb starts off badly and then builds up to a point where you are blown away, but only in parts. The premise itself is preposterous. Double roles are an ancient blueprint for a film. What is it doing in this century? The last time we saw that done well was Farhan Akhtar’s Don (2006) which was itself based on the 70s original. Aurangzeb takes this ridiculous set-up extremely seriously, which could be its biggest undoing but also its achievement and I’d like to stick with that.

Ajay and Vishal (played by Arjun Kapoor), two identical twins separated in their infancy. One goes with the mother, the other with the father. The movie is mainly about daddy issues. The title itself points to the Mughal king who usurped his father to take the throne. The plot consists of an elaborate plan by the Gurgaon police to infiltrate a gangster’s real estate empire by sending the good son to take the place of the bad son. What happens after that are a lot of misfires and equal amounts of brilliance.

Aided by superlative performances and Zimmer-esque music, this film is a semi-winner. Rishi Kapoor, Jackie Shroff and Prithviraj are amazing. But there’s one scene where Rishi Kapoor knocks it out of the park and steals the film from the other actors. Arjun Kapoor holds his own despite getting a bit repetitive. Sasha Agha is appalling, I wish they had cast a better actress.

The second act of the film leading up to the finale is absolutely terrific. It starts with that one scene where Rishi Kapoor just knocks it out of the park (I know I said that before but I want to say it again because it’s that good). There are a few powerhouse moments when the is plot drawing to a close, like the one where Arjun Kapoor runs to save a character in slow motion. Or the three shootouts threatening to be the climatic end .They break out suddenly, but you are always involved in the action, unlike the climax of Shootout at Wadala. I also liked the scenes where we saw business meetings being conducted. This isn’t people pretending to be businessmen like we see in Hindi movies. These scenes have actual conversations where people are doing “sauda” (deals).

The premise may have been ridiculous but it is so well-plotted that it engages you in the family drama. It’s easy to be influenced by The Godfather (1972) when you make a father-son crime drama. I was impressed when the plot points did not fall into those traps. In fact, it admirably gives homage to the kind of dramatics Salim-Javed's screenplays regularly visited.

The sub-plot with the girlfriend is the film’s weakest link. The dialogues could have been better and the film could have been crisper. But there is a lot to like here. I would recommend you watch it, but with the knives in your pockets. Don’t expect a superb film but don’t try to stop yourself from savoring the moments where it almost becomes one.

Akbar and his favourite grandchild Shah Jehan were significant benefactors of South Asia’s construction industry and the arts; therefore even...
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Akbar and his favourite grandchild Shah Jehan were significant benefactors of South Asia’s construction industry and the arts; therefore even today our builder fraternity through their faux Mughal construction projects, and the Lahore and Mumbai film industry in their film scripts continue to pay homage to GrandDaddy and Co. As it is Shah Jehan and his Deewar-esque progeny were the stuff of Saleem Javed’s dreams, so little wonder that reel life and the world of words continue to be inspired by that real life brother against brother against father fracas.

(Mohsin Hamid whose The Reluctant Fundamentalist hits screens this weekend had first captured our attention with the brilliant Moth Smoke –Hamid’s take of the Dara Shikoh-Aurangzeb saga)

Aurangzeb is the latest arrival.

The current decade has seen India’s film industry wooing Delhi once more after the “Delhi as guest star” status it enjoyed in Yash Chopra movies. Chashme Buddoor too was a brilliant ode to the city .Today we have Dipakar Banerjee, Maneesh Sharma, and Habib Faisal amongst others to thank for Delhi being in favour again. Alas it wasnt long that Gurgaon with its me-too syndrome when it comes to Delhi, elbowed itself into Delhi’s party on the film screen.

The film starts with Arya’s (Prithiviraj Sukumaran) disgraced cop father (played by Anupam Kher—where this is a role, that Naseeruddin Shah has a special expertise for. Supporting a paramour and boy holed up in a hill station on the sly) confessing to son that he too has been doing a Naseeruddin Shah and it is left to Arya to now do a “ Main Hoo Na”. Arya reels in his mentor uncle (played by Rishi Kapoor) and cousin who believe that the family in khaki that “collects hafta ” together stays together, and channel a bit of D’Silva from Don to bring down the evil empire of Yashwardhan the Czar of Gurgaon (Jackie Shroff) thus giving closure to the family .

And then the Kahani me Twists begin.

The men in khaki and construction industry’s sparring bouts are interspersed by performances by Sasha Agha (whose body of work and workout show that picking up her daddy’s squash racket would have been quite a crime) Amrita Singh (who is to the Evil Sari born) and Deepti Naval who as always is brilliant even if its entering a room with flour smeared on her hands.

For a city that is yet to bring down the Aedes Aegypti mosquito population, half of the city’s police force shoots down the other half pretty quickly; the bodies keep going down and clichéd kahani me twists rapidly following them.

By the end of the movie you are only relieved that Rishi Kapoor has been finally freed of his knitted sweaters ,for that man is a powerhouse of talent. Kaash ke Raj Kapoor sahib zinda hote. Tears of Joy! Shroff shows some of his old fire and Arjun Kapoor continues to prove that he will be the Abhay Deol of the Kapoor family yet. (Well for me at least!) Nary a false step yet. And he is only two films old.

Comments

There are 3 axioms on which this film is based.The title refers to a King by that name who was known to even get his kin out of the way to get or...
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There are 3 axioms on which this film is based.The title refers to a King by that name who was known to even get his kin out of the way to get or retain his crown. Hence " Kingship knows no kinship". Next is a line by a poet shown at the beginning " In the cavern of an infant's breast , the father's nature lives" or words to that effect which means that the son picks up the father's nature.The third thought is" Sapno se bada apna hota hai " meaning relationship with your kin is bigger than your dreams.On these thoughts and their contradictions ,director Atul Sabharwal with the help of a good screenplay and a choice ensemble of talented actors builds up a perfectly watchable film.Since it is his first time in feature film direction, the director deserves full credit for his deft handling of this complex storyline and more importantly for extracting excellent performances from the main cast. True, there are some loose ends and the film drags at times but even the greatest directors are guilty of this. In one perspective, the film appears to be a collection of some well shot independent scenes.The story is set in Gurgaon( Haryana ), a suburb of Delhi famous for high development of real estate. The players in this drama are the nephew/good cop ( Prithviraj), uncle/ DCP bad cop ( Rishi Kapoor), business tycoon ( Jacky Shroff ) with twin sons one good and one bad ( both Arjun Kapoor), and Anupam Kher as good brother to Rishi Kapoor.The lady characters are Tanvi Azmi( mother to twins and Jacky's wife), Deepti Naval ( Rishi Kapoor's wife),Amrita Singh ( wicked/plotting associate of Jacky) and finally seductress Sasha Agha all out to wean away Arjun from work at Amrita Singh's behest. The main plot is how Rishi Kapoor gets Jacky's bad son Arjun kidnapped and replaces him with good son to know the plans of Jacky.( As in Don ) and how complications develop due to emotional attachments.The plots have sub plots which have sub sub plots but since the individual scenes are done well, the proceedings are kept interesting.The scenes relate to land grabbing and corruption at high places along with an undercurrent of a family feud. All these characters whether they are policemen,builder mafia,or business associate are grey tending to get black or vice versa. No one is white.They are caught up in a circle of greed, deceit, hatred, helplessness etc. There are a couple of noble intentions to balance the drama.The music is catchy and helps to establish the mood of the film. Rishi Kapoor has given a restrained and realistic performance with negative shades, his second after Agneepath. He has tasted blood and I think his future assignments will be these type of roles.( Movie buffs will remember that Rishi had a long time back done a negative role in a not so prominent film whose name I forget) .Jacky Shroff has given one of his better performances. The real surprise is the intense role played by Prithviraj ( known for his body buildingscenes in the forgettable Aiyya).He has done very well and reminds us of Aamir of Talaash. Anupam Kher has done a very small role which needed to be expanded. Arjun Kapoor fresh from his Ishaqzade role has done the double role nicely and his fans will increase but the inexperience is showing. All 3 senior ladies have given good support in this mancentric drama . Newcomer Sasha Agha has a good role but it could have gone beyond the skin show ( not her fault anyway).Special mention must be made of the superb cinematography by Karthik Ganesh which gives impression of sober black and white whenever required in the film to create the mood. Almost all the backdrops are of concrete jungle ( some unfinished ) which create the required ambience. The outdoors also focus on the sinister backyard of the city. Editing this film must have quite an exercise and director involvement must have been high to give it the necessary flow.Actually this film deserves a little more than 3 stars but I will give it 4 because of the excellent direction by Atul Sabharwal where he has been able to extract fantastic performances from his actors
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